Samsung sheds out bucket loads in investment

The Samsung Group has launched a $38.3 billion (43.1 trillion won) investment plan for 2011 as it fights to stay at the top of the technology world.

The group, best known for its electronics unit, said it will look to invest in organic light emitting diodes (OLED). It hopes this will enable it to rise nearly fourfold this year compared with last year. However, it’s dropping some cash in its semiconductor business too.

According to the WSJ the investment will also help the company keep up in the race for technology trends such as tablets and smartphones.

“Uncertainties surrounding the world economy still remain,” the group said in a statement.

“But Samsung has decided to make the biggest-ever investment this year in order to expand its new growth engine by strengthening its global market dominance in key businesses and increasing spending on new businesses.”

And it’s good news for workers with the company also claiming that it will hire around 25,000 employees this year, a rise of 11 percent from last year.

Samsung is investing significantly more than its rivals. Panasonic for example has said its capital spending and research-and-development expenses this year will be $12.56 billion (1.03 trillion yen)